1

European Design Guide for Surface Tensile Structures

The European Design Guide for Surface Tensile Structures (2004),
the Proceedings of the TensiNet Symposium (2003) and of
the Design of membrane and lightweight structures Symposium (2000)
can be ordered on line http://www.tensinet.com/order_designguide.php :

The European Design Guide for Surface Tensile Structures has been published
in August 2004. The design guide contains the following chapters:
Introduction
John Chilton, Brian Forster
Engineered fabric architecture Brain Forster, Marijke Mollaert
Form
Jrgen Bradatsch, Peter Ptzold, Cristiana Saboia de
Freitas, Rudi Scheuermann, Juan Monjo,
Marijke Mollaert
Internal Environment John Chilton, Rainer Blum, Thibaut Devulder,
Peter Rutherford
Detailing and Connections Rogier Houtmann, Harmen Werkman
Structural design basis and safety criteria Mike Barnes, Brian Forster,
Mike Dencher
Design loading conditions Markus Balz, Mike Dencher
Form-finding, load analysis and patterning Mike Barnes, Lothar Grndig,
Erik Moncrieff
Material properties and testing Rainer Blum, Heidrun Bgner, Guy Nmoz
Fabrication, installation and maintenance Klaus Gipperich, Roberto
Canobbio, Stefania Lombardi, Marc Malinowsky

Cost
(Euro)
100
60
40

European Design Guide for Surface Tensile Structures (2004)

Proceedings of the TensiNet Symposium (2003)
Design of membrane and lightweight structures Symposium (2000)
The following packages can be ordered at reduced prices:
European Design Guide + Proceedings of the TensiNet Symposium (2003)
+ Design of membrane and lightweight structures Symposium (2000)
European Design Guide + Proceedings of the TensiNet Symposium (2003)

150
130

If you order any of these publications at the same time as registering as

a TensiNet member the cost of the older publications is reduced by 50%
and the cost of the Design Guide is reduced by 20%:

The design guide contains the following appendices:

European Design Guide + Proceedings of the TensiNet Symposium (2003)

+ Design of membrane and lightweight structures Symposium (2000)
European Design Guide + Proceedings of the TensiNet Symposium (2003)
European Design Guide for Surface Tensile Structures (2004)

Cp Values for simple tensile structure shapes, Mike Dencher, Markus Balz
Cp values for open roof stadiums, Markus Balz, Mike Barnes
Testing methods and standards, Rainer Blum, Heidrun Bgner, Guy Nmoz
An Example of the application of the testing procedure described
in Appendix A3 on a PTFE coated glass fabric, Rainer Blum,
Heidrun Bgner, Klaus Gipperich, Sean Seery

130
110
80

With its different activities (website, database, Design Guide, annual workshop Textile Roofs and TensiNews) TensiNet has an impact at both
the educational and professional level. Initially, specific information was scattered and retained by experts. However, the networking that has been initiated reaches
beyond the partners and has an impact on knowledge and procedures in institutions as well as professional organisations and businesses.
TensiNet creates a forum, an association and a reference point.
Marijke Mollaert

partners
Buro Happold Engineers
www.burohappold.com

The Arup Group

www.arup.com

Canobbio S.p.A.
www.canobbio.com

Universidad Poletcnica de
Madrid www.aq.upm.es

Ceno Tec
www.ceno-tec.de

SL-Rasch GmbH
www.sl-rasch.de

Club de
la Structure Textile
syndicatbaches.free.fr

Taconic International
www.taconic-afd.com

European Council for Construction

Research, Development and Innovation www.eccredi.org

technet GmbH
www.technet-gmbh.com

Engineering Systems
International S.A.
www.esi.fr
Newcastle University
www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/
p.d.gosling
Institut Franais du Textile
et de l'Habillement
www.ifth.org

Forthcoming Events
IASS 2004
Montpellier (France)

41st Annual SES Technical Meeting

Lincoln, Nebraska

University of Nottingham
www.nottingham.ac.uk/sbe

Hopkins
Architects
www.hopkins.co.uk

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

http://www.vub.ac.be/studioZ/
reZearch/lightweight.htm

10/10/2004 > 13/10/2004

IFAI Expo 2004

Pittsburgh

Exhibition
27/10/2004 > 29/10/2004

http://www.ifaiexpo.info/

2nd Latin American Symposium

Tentech
www.tentech.nl

Messe Frankfurt/Techtextil
www.techtextil.de

Symposium

http://www.nuengr.unl.edu/ses2004/symposia/fibrous.html

Tensotech Consulting
www.tensotech.com

Laboratorium Blum

20/09/2004 > 24/09/2004

http://www.iass2004.org/

Technical University
of Berlin
www.survey.tu-berlin.de

University of Bath
www.bath.ac.uk/departments/
arch/csemwebpage/light.htm

Conference

Caracas (Venezuela)

Symposium
04/05/2005 > 06/05/2005

http://www.arq.ucv.ve/idec/simposio/

Techtextil Frankfurt
Frankfurt (Germany)

Trade Fair
07/06/2005 > 09/06/2005

http://techtextil.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en/home.html

Mobile and
convertible booth for
election campaign
For an election campaign an
innovative, expressive and
mobile booth was needed for a
party as an alternative for the
normally used umbrellas and
tables. The pneumatic booth
fulfils all the requirements: it is
mobile and light, expressive and
convertible. On the top of an
aluminium mast with an
integrated round table the
membrane is connected over a
kind of hub. At the top of this
hub the ventilator is located.
Inside the mast are the electrical
cables and the rainwater
drainage. The foot of the booth
is a standard footing for market
umbrellas. The whole booth
can be demounted within

Umbrellas

for the Chamber of Commerce,

Wrzburg
In the inner courtyard of the Chamber of Commerce at Wrzburg
three extraordinary umbrellas were installed, offering an impressive
sight. Each umbrella has a height of approximately 13 m and the total
covered area is approximately 475 m2. The biggest umbrella has an
edge length of 14 m x 14 m. The funnel shape, which often is used in
desert areas to collect rain, also has the advantage that it can drain
the surface rain via the posts, thus avoiding costly drainage systems.
The main sub-structure of the roof consists of clamped steel posts
and a fine frame fixed on the posts by horizontal and sloped struts.
The extremely demanding tensioning process of the posts was carried
out via the top plate into the ceiling of the underground parking space
directly beneath.

5 minutes into manageable

pieces, transportable in a small
car or by hand.
This inflating pneumatic
bubble is an eye-catcher and
an attraction. In less than
2 minutes the pneumatic
structure is totally inflated by a
solar powered ventilator.
The ventilator is regulated by a
two-step switch, which reduced
the air volume after the bubble
is totally inflated.
The high translucency of the
membrane material allows the
pneumatic balloon to glow
under the influence of bright
sunlight. For use during the
night appropriate lighting can
be installed inside.

Due to the use of ETFE-foil for these umbrellas their appearance is

very filigree and light. A cable-net integrated in the ETFE-foils
transmits the external loading to the frame and post.

Membrane structure:

Three transparent funnel-shaped umbrellas,

consisting of ETFE-foils
Primary structure:
Steel columns
Location:
Inner courtyard of the Chamber of Commerce, Wrzburg
End of project:
October 2003
Client:
Chamber of Commerce, Wrzburg-Schweinfurt
Architects:
Architekten BDA, Prof. Franz Gger/Georg Redelbach
Realization of membrane Structure:
covertex GmbH, Obing
Technical data membrane
Roof area:
approx. 475 m2
Number of layers:
1
Thickness of foil:
ETFE 200 m printed with dots
Tensile strength:
52 N/mm2
Fire class:
DIN 4102 - B1

Architect:
Manufacturer:
Dimensions:
Material:
Ventilator:

www.covertex.de

Peter Ptzold
Peter Ptzold together with Jakob Frick Baumodelle
Height: 2.6 m, Diameter 2.3 m, Covered area 4.2 m2
Aluminium mast, galvanized steel foot, plywood,
PU coated PES fabric (light spinnaker fabric)
12 V, 125 m3/h, solar module and battery, 5W
info@peterpaetzold.de

A mobile tent structure forms an

elegant and charming cover for
the existing grandstand of the
Scherenburgfestspiele in
Gmnden above the River Main.
A light translucent membrane
roof provides shelter from wind
and rain for the spectators
during the theatre summer
festival without destroying the
open air athmosphere that this
place is well known for. And
being well integrated with the
historical red sandstone ruins of
the old castle this white streched
textile roof creates an
architecturally unique situation
for the theatre play. Also, its
attractive silhouette forms the
new symbol for the
summerfestival, that can be seen
from far out in the valley.
One interesting aspect of this
project is the first official
application of the Tensinet
Design Guide as a technical
reference for the engineering and
the approval procedure of this
tent structure with the TV,
which is the authorized
association for technical
supervision in Germany.
The membrane roof is
supported by two internally
located lattice masts (10.5m
height), which were positioned
within the existing grandstand at
the edge of the upper stairways.
The position and the form of
the lattice mast provide a
comfortable and safe situation
for the movement of the public
and also create the minimum
disturbance for the visibility of
the spectators. Each one of
these main masts supports two
lattice outrigger beams. This
outrigger system provides the
roof with structural
independence regarding the
adjacent historical building and
allows the great span towards
the stage. The lattice steel
structures also provide new wellpositioned supports for
technical illumination
equipment.
For the membrane itself a
Tenera 3T20 fabric is used. This
is a 100% Fluorpolymer fabric
which has high tensile strength,
is highly translucent (20%), dirt
repellant and wheather - and
UV- resistant. It was chosen for
its main charactersitics and for
the architectural quality of the
white light that is shining
through the Teflon fiber and for
its high flexibility and friction

handling and the mobility of the

complete tent structure without
large cranage equipment. This
was an important aspect for the
demountable tent roof that shall
be installed every year at the
beginning of the theatre season
and shall be removed afterwards
by the team of the theatre
technicians. The precise
geometry and prestress of the
tensile structure is guaranteed
during the erection by the
permanent anchorage points
and by the adjusted and fixed
system length of the tent
structure single members.

Grandstand Tent Cover

for the open-air theatre
in Scherenburg,
Gemnden/Main,
Germany
attachments, the pure textile
membrane structure allows
simple flexible handling and
cleaning. The fabric is stretched
by peripheral tubular masts and
suspension cables, which are
anchored to permanent
injection anchors in the ground
or in the solid stone walls.

free surface, which is a primary

requirement for keeping a good
aesthetic appearance of the
membrane through the
succesive erection processes over
the years. Along its edges and
ridges the fabric is reinforced
with high tensile Polyester belts.
At the membrane edge corners,
the belts are attached to the
steel frame and the peripheral
suspension cables by means of
demountable steel plates. After
the disconnection of all steel

The fabric qualities and the

special structural detailing of the
membrane as well as the steel
structure detailing facilitate the

Client:
Theaterverein Scherenburg, Gemnden/ Main, Germany
Architect, Engineer:
Architekturbro Rasch + Bradatsch
Contractor:
SL-Rasch GmbH
Dimensions:
Covered area 380m2 (max. width 27m, max. depth 17m)
Height of main masts 10.5m;
height of external masts from 5 to 6m
Weight:
25kN (6.5kg/m2 covered)
Material:
Steel works - mild steel, hot dip galvanized
Cables - galvanized steel cables with swaged sockets
Membrane - Tenara 3T20 (630g/m2);
rainwater tight fabric
from 100% Fluorpolymers
Execution:
April 2004 - June 2004 (approx. 3 months)
bradatsch@sl-rasch.de http://www.sl-rasch.de/

A great challenge of this project

was to develop the design, to
manufacture and to finish the
erection of the tent structure
within 12 weeks. Also, this tight
schedule had to include an
official approval procedure by
the TV, which is the
authorized association for
technical supervision in
Germany. So there was no time
for any major changes of the
architectural and structural
design concept and the TV
had to agree from the first
design stage with the load
assumptions and with the safety
concept for this project.
But neither the German DIN
codes include standards for the
windload distribution on typical
tent shapes, nor was the time or
the budget available to evaluate
the windpressure distribution for
this particular tent shape by a
physical wind tunnel testing.
In this critical situation the TV
accepted the Preliminary
TensiNet Design Guide for
tensioned membrane structures
as a reference. This state-of-theart compendium for tensioned
structures that is written by the
well recommended Europeen
designers and manufacturers of
tensioned structures also
includes in Chapter A1 a
recommendation for the
windpressure cp value
distribution of free-standing tent
roofs and the TV agreed to
apply this reference as basis for
the structural calculation of the
Scherenburg tent structure.
This application of the Tensinet
Design Guide that is developed
with the support of the
European Community and aims
at defining European Building
Standards for tensile membrane
structures was in fact a further
step towards this common goal.

Lightweight with large span: Tensairity

The Swiss company Airlight has developed, with the Tensairity
concept, a new pneumatic beam which enables spectacular
applications especially in civil engineering. The synergetic combination
of an air filled flexible tube, cables and rods gives with low pressure a
very light but strong structure element.

The main target of Airlight are civil engineers who, in a four-day

introductory course, learn the theory behind the design and numerical
simulation of Tensairity structures. The access to a vast amount of
related information and details speeds up the task of the engineer in
the proposal and design phase.

What is the difference between Tensairity and existing pneumatic

structures? The innovative Tensairity concept is based on the fact
that air pressure is totally independent of the span and slenderness of
the constituting elements. In other words: Tensairity allows the
construction of very light roof structures with extremely large span.
The load bearing capacity of Tensairity is so high that with a pressure
of 200 mbar it is already possible to build temporary bridges even
suitable for heavy transports. Compared to traditional airbeams,
Tensairity needs just 1% of air pressure. With such low pressure, air
losses are easily compensated.
Apart from civil engineering many other fields of application are
possible: floating structures, sport equipment, airships and even
aerospace applications.

TENSAIRITY PROJECT:

Breitling, Baselworld jewellery exhibition

The Tensairity beam elements with 10 m span having a diameter of
just 30 cm (resulting in a slenderness ratio of 33) and an internal
pressure of only 0.50 bar have a load bearing capacity of more than
25kN. Four Tensairity beam elements can carry the Bentley
Continental GT sports car and more than 20 people.

Figure 1. FEM Analysis of Tensairity beams

Basic principles
The basic idea of Tensairity is to use low pressure air to stabilize
compression elements against buckling. The basic Tensairity
structure consists of a cylindrical airbeam (a low pressure fabric
tube), a compression strut tightly connected to the membrane along
the whole length of the airbeam and at least one pair of cables
spiraled around the airbeam that
are firmly connected to the
Compression
compression element at both ends
of the beam.
Airbeam

Cable

Figure 2. The Tensairity girder:

compression element on top, airbeam and cables

Figure 4. a, b, c Breitling,
Baselworld jewelley exhibition.

The compression element is connected to the membrane and thus

can be considered
as a beam on an
elastic foundation.
The buckling load
of such a beam is
then independent of
the span.

The beams, made of a

silicon coated fiberglass
fabric, are also
illuminated through a
glass window at one end
giving a particular
lighting effect.

Figure 3. Temporary bridge

spanning 8 m
(First prototype)

Building owner/customer:
Breitling SA, Grenchen, Switzerland
Engineering:
Airlight Ltd., Biasca, Switzerland
Architect:
Alain Porta, Lausanne, Switzerland
Manufacturer:
Canobbio SpA, Castelnuovo Scrivia (Al), Italy
Completion:
april, 2004
Fabric:
Silicone coated Fiberglas, Atex 5000, Interglas Technologies

Airlight Ltd.
The Tensairity technology has been developed and patented
worldwide by Airlight Ltd. Switzerland. The company markets this
technology and offers with licensing many other services such as
training and support by direct applications. The main mission is to
help engineers in applying the technology and to further develop the
Tensairity concept.

Stefania.Lombardi@canobbio.com
http://www.canobbio.com http://www.airlight.biz

Figure 1 A two-storey snow hotel covered with

the sow (reception in the centre, 8 rooms
around)

Figure 2a, 2b Internal views of the snow hotel

Figure 3 Airhall of 100m x 60m x 18m

Bubbles in the snow

In northern Finland we usually
have a lot of snow. Not in an
excessive way that we are forced
to use it for our buildings like
Inuits make their igloos, but
more in a playful way that we
can have fun with it. In the early
days of the air halls some people
were testing pneumatic
structures as a mould for
concrete and different resinbased materials.
In Finland, in a northern city
called Kemi (www.snowcastle.net), some people got the
idea to build the biggest snow
castle in the world.

the ground, because of the size

the inner pressure has to be up
to 4-5 kPa to resist the weight of
the packed snow against the
walls. On the other hand the
moulds should be easy to move
and handle to meet commercial
demands. Some experiments
seemed promising, showing that
the structure could be built in
10 minutes and was a closed
volume with a demountable
bottom. The smallest ones can
be carried by two men having
the full pressure inside. The
pressure stiffens the whole
structure with its bottom.

In Sweden they already had built

structures from ice but not from
snow.
The first moulds were made by
combining plywood with timber
or steel, but off course double
curved forms were difficult to
accomplish.
Our long-time client
(www.mailari.fi), renting big
tents for all kind of summer
festivals, asked us to build
moulds for making small igloos.
The biggest problem with
moulds using air pressure has
always been how to fix them to

The first prototype measured

6m x 4m (diameter x height),
later adding 8 smaller ones of
size 3.5m x 2.3m. The biggest
one we made was 12m x 8.5m
and next winter we have planned
to build one of size 16m x 11m.
The most difficult thing is how
to make snow that is structurally
stable enough, not how to make
the mould itself.
Anyway, those are small in size
compared to the sport halls we
have made in Finland: there are
two halls for football training,
size 120m x 68m x 21m and for
the next winter we have planned
one of size 180m x 72m x 22m.
Because of the Finnish weather
conditions these membranes are

Textile Grandstand Roofing for the New

Estdio Intermunicipal Faro-Loul on the Algarve Coast
One of the most interesting
applications for Textile
Architecture is the field of
stadium roof construction.
Generous, airy, and translucent
roof designs which can also be
shaped in varied form can be
seen worldwide in many stadiums
in the meantime. The operators
of smaller stadiums also make

The membrane building specialist

CENO TEC GmbH carried out
the work with the engineering
specialist office IPLIngenieurplanung Leichtbau
GmbH who were already involved
in the project implementation at
a very early stage to make the
architects design feasible for the
construction of the membrane,
i.e. to harmonise the materialspecific and design-constructiontype requirements which
characterise the construction of
the membrane such as sufficient
curvature in opposite directions
to avoid water or snow pockets,
suitable steel elongations and
fixing details appropriate for
membranes.
In particular, it was important to
dissolve the relatively flat
discontinuous course of the
membrane and to transform it
into a stable structure.

more and more use of the

benefits of this design. The new
Estdio Intermunicipal FaroLoul which was opened
officially in a ceremonial opening
on 23rd November 2003 is one
of these examples.
In accordance with a layout
designed by the architects HOK
Sportsevent and the AARQ,
Atelier de Arquitectura in Lisbon,
the south and east tribunes were
each arched over by a roof design
suspended from rope binders,
using an additional steel arch
concept to support this
construction.
A total of 32 membrane fields
each with a width of 14.40
metres and lengths varying from
31.00 to 45.00 metres is roofed.
The covered base surface is a
total of 10168m2 in size.
Highly-resistant polyester fabric
with double-sided PVC coating
was selected as membrane
material. Due to the use of a final
paint coat with fluorine polymer
paint, the material additionally
features a dirt-resistant surface
finish.

Practicable details conforming

with the supporting framework
structure to be provided
externally had to be developed
for production and mounting
which made it possible to deviate
loads burdening the membrane
structure in a clean and, as far as
possible, linear manner to the
supporting framework. The
membrane surfaces and the
individual cutting strips were
determined based on the
externally specified geometry.
Here the exact material behaviour
under load had to be determined
by a load-controlled biaxial test
which in the end served to
determine the compensation
values for the cut. The individual
fields - approx. 550 m2 in size
including the edge designs - were
manufactured completely at the
CENO TEC plant and shipped to
the building site.
There, the elements were
mounted to the supporting
framework within a short period.
In this respect, Textile Design can
be compared with Prefabricated
House Operations, meaning

ANCHORED ON LAND
Maritime Station entrance building
in Alicante harbour

Figure 4 Airhall of 95m x 55m x 16m

always manufactured in one

single piece: this is the
traditional Finnish way not
found in any other country.
The Finnish climate has always
been suitable for air halls and
the number of built structures
has risen to more than 500 in
fourty years which is a lot for a
small country.
Finland is also exporting a lot of
steel framed PVC-covered
structures all around the world.
(www.besthall.com).

http://www.tensotech.com
info@tensotech.com

The original Maritime Station was built in the sixties with a very
impressive structure made of concrete shells. In 2003 it was
completely renovated, and as part of this renovation, a new entrance
building was planned. Finally, the option of a light structure as a hall
for a heavy building was decided.
The situation of the roof, on a breakwater, almost surrounded by the
sea as part of the harbour, conditioned it in two different ways:
On one side, the design should simulate the masts and yards of a Tall
Ship. In order to get this, the whole structure is hanged on a
mainmast (35m height, 619mm) in the middle and small masts
(219mm) on the border. The geometry of the tent, one half-cone as
a mainsail and one irregular paraboloid as a gaff-topsail, and the
details of the structure are constant references to ships (top basket in
the mainmast, six small masts: some of them as a kind of jib-boom,
stainless clews of the sails, and so).
On the other side, the structural analysis should face expected wind
loads of almost 180 km/h, making the structure to be light but much
more resistant than others. For this reason, the membrane used was
Ferrari 1302 Fluotop T2, strong enough for this load and good for
dirt-resistance and saline environment. The steel used for masts and
arches is high resistant A52b/S355 JR.
The half-cone is attached under the top basket to the main mast, and
it has two fixed borders curved steel tubes - and three more fixed
points on masts with four free borders - cables or bolt-ropes.
The paraboloid is anchored to the mainmast in a fixed border with
plates, and five more points to each mast with bolt-ropes between
them.
The mainmast is stabilised by cables in order to reduce flexion due to
eccentric forces transmitted from the membranes. These cables
(grouped in two families, one on top of the mainmast and he other
on the second membrane fixation) are fixed to the masts and finally
to foundations (which were designed for seismic loads).
The bottom of the mainmast is a spherical articulation designed to
fix the position of the mast with the upper family of cables.
On a lower position the mast is fixed to the concrete slab with a steel
crown: where the mast passes through the concrete slab.
This way, it does not work as an articulated mast.

that the mounting time

compared to the project term is
relatively short. The mounting
work was implemented within a
period of 5-6 weeks.
AARQ Atelier de
Arquitectura, Lissabon +
W.S. Atkins, UK
Engineering
IPL - Ingenieurplanung Leichtbau GmbH (D)
Contractor
CENO TEC GmbH
Fabric
PVC/PES fabric with a
dirt-repelling final PVDF coating
Covered Area
10168 m2
Year of Construction
2003

The finishing of the main floor is a wooden deck, being an other

reference to the nautical origin of this Tall ship anchored on land.

Architect

info@ceno-tec.de
www.ceno-tec.de

tejera@batspain.com
http://www.arquitextil.net
lzmadrid@telefonica.net

Client:
Alicante harbour authority
Location:
Alicante harbour(Spain)
Main contractor:
VIAS y
CONSTRUCCIONES
(Javier Vidal)
Contractor:
COMERCIAL
MARTIMA L&Z, S.L.
(Jos M. Lastra, Javier Tejera)
Engineering: COMERCIAL MARTIMA
L&Z (Jos M. Lastra, Javier Tejera),
THEMA
(Guillermo Capelln)
Fabric/Structure material suppliers:
FERRARI / FAMECA, COTNSA
Year of construction:
2003
Covered surface:
600 m2

New coatings and multi filaments

Material compounds have a long tradition in the textile technology and a growing perspective.
eatures
The company
of Polymade ITT has made new products on the base of innovative textile components.

SOLAFLON coatings
Thefield
With
the
developed
theof
SOLAFLON a new
coating system for innovative
technical textiles has been
developed which leads to a whole
product family for textile
structures. SOLAFLON is a PTFE
based coating system with all
well-known f
fluorpolymers in
constructional physics. The
novelty consists in the fact that a
glass clear PTFE derivate can be
used in any thickness of coating.
Because the coating appears as a
transparent and flexible film on
both sides of the glass fabric, the
coating is even not visible at the
first glance.
technology allows coatings from

2500nm Solaflon shows no

absorption. This means that also
the UVB and UVA are passing
Solaflon. If glass fabrics are
coated with Solaflon without
additives and such a material
would be chosen for a football /
soccer stadium the growth of the
grass would not be hindered.

some m's up to some 100m,

whereas the polymer shows a high
flexibility even at bigger layers.

That all together allows products

in a very big range of
transmission, which generally is
only limited by the glass fabric. In
this respect a transparency of
50% is nothing special.
With the variable thickness of the
coating light and flexible textiles
can be created. Even with the
worst cross creases the Solaflon
film on the glass fabric remains
unaffected. Because the bonding

Solaflon is nearly 100%

transparent from 200nm up to
2500nm. This means that it is
not only UVC stable but it also
shows no optical change after
strong radiation with high energy
quanta like gamma radiation,
where normal PTFE disintegrates.
Within the range of the solar
radiation from 300nm up to

between the polymer and the

glass fibres is just a physical one
as mechanical anchor into the
middle of the multifilaments of
the glass, this connection can be
disturbed when sharp creases
occur. Due to this effect a darker
line could be observed, but
despite this visual effect the
surface remains absolutely tight.
That concerns also only transparent Solaflon coatings which
don't contain any additive. That
can be made invisible by heating
up the coating with a hot air
stream, when the fabric is
installed and is under tension.
Due to the high transparency of
Solaflon any colouring is
possible. Each RAL colour can be
added and the result is a brilliant,

Mr. Hubert Reiter from Covertex

Gmbh gave a presentation on the
use of ETFE foil, which can mainly
be used in architecture in two ways: mechanically prestressed forms and
pneumatic cushion structures. He described the design and erection
process of The football Globe, a 670 m2 transportable structure, made out
of inflatable ETFE hexagons and pentagons, patched together to form a
giant football.

Last June the Ninth International

Workshop on the Design and
Practical Realisation of Architectural Membrane Structures was held at the Technical University Berlin
and was co-financed by Ferrari, technet Gmbh and TensiNet. The main
objectives of this workshop were to provide fundamental information, as
well as presenting the state-of-the-art in textile roof engineering. Ever since
its conception nine years ago, the event has been growing in number of
participants, bringing together the expertise of successful engineers and
architects as well as the enthusiasm of newcomers to the topic. This years
event brought together about 90 people from over 25 countries worldwide.
In addition to a comprehensive programme of lectures presented in English
by key figures from the membrane structure industry and academia,
opportunities for the study and hands-on development of practical casestudies in an informal tutorial environment were provided, touching
subjects such as computational modelling, design process, detailing,
environmental and economical factors, physical modelling and materials.

Textile Roofs 2004

Textile manufacturer Ferrari S.A. was represented by Mr. P. Burnat, Mr. F.

Reitsma and Mr. J. Tejera who gave a lecture on SKY300, a newly
developed silicone coated fabric material for interior applications which has
high flame retardency. The benefits of silicone are a good resistance to UV.,
humidity and chemical aggressions.
Mr. Ingo Lishke from Textil Bau Gmbh considered
the impact of climbing for textile projects. As an
illustration, the cladding of the TUBs main
building was climbed with the help of
Gewerbeklettern Erfurt.

The general structure of the Workshop and the key-note topics and
lectures were the same as last year, but new for this years event was that
some presentations focussed on the Project Studies.

Prof. Josep Llorens stated that detailing for fabric

structures is not yet thoroughly documented or
widespread practice, even though designing and
evaluating connections and joints is critical to the
overall concept and the resulting structure.

Ms. Stefania Lombardi (Canobbio Spa) gave a general introductory lecture

on tensile structures and how an idea can be transformed into a real-life
membrane structure, providing us with an insight on the process involved.
Dr. Dieter Strbel of technet Gmbh explained the working of EASY software
for the computational modelling of lightweight structures, dealing with
formfinding, load analysis and cutting pattern generation.

Ms. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rosemarie Wagner shared some ideas on a recent

development in tension structures concerning a system for modelling and
simulation of membrane structures. It allows describing the design process
in all its aspects and allows interfering of the user at each step. A non-linear
optimization algorithm is used, based on a FEM-formulation.

The Vrije Universiteit Brussel(VUB) was represented

by newcomers Tom Van Mele, Niels De Temmerman
and Caroline Henrotay, all architectural engineers,
two of which gave their first ever presentation for an
international
audience. They
presented their
research topic
Interactive
Kinetic
Architecture
and
4-dimensional Design, both dealing
with adaptability, but within a
different timeframe.

In sessions, parallel to the lectures, a Computational Modelling Workshop

was led by Dieter Strbel and in an exhibition on Temporary Architecture
some projects by students from the Technical University Berlin were
presented.
The event was concluded by an interactive discussion, led by Jrgen
Hennicke and Josep Llorens, on the physical aspects and construction
details of membrane structures.
Were looking forward to the 10th anniversary edition of this event next
year which will be held from 26th till the 28th of May 2005.
www.textile-roofs.com mail@textile-roofs.com

colourful and glossy material.

With the incorporation of Irodin
particles the full range of metallic
colours is available, but also the
shine of colourful interference
phenomena's can be realized.
Due to the optical neutrality of
the Solaflon matrix also
functional particles can be built
in. Out of this reason a heat
stop effect can be generated.
Special pigments which are
transparent in the visible,
especially for green light and
which are reflecting the total
infrared allowing transparent
structures with cold light. The
membranes will remain cold
because the IR is reflected and
not absorbed.
Another feature is the possibility
to create a low emissivity at the
surface of the membrane. That
will be done by aluminising the
glass fabric by PVD (physical
vapour deposition) and then
sheltering the metallic aluminium

coating with a thin layer of

Solaflon (about 10m). Due to
the slight absorption of the far IR
by Solaflon the effect of
aluminium remains nearly the
same, but it is secured against
corrosion by the Solaflon
coating.
One of the main properties is the
polarity of Solaflon. That allows
simple seams to be made with RF
welding systems like those for
welding PVC. All membranes
qualities can be treated like
Polyester/PVC, what means that
many companies are able to
tailor this material.

Glass (yarns / plied yarns /

rovings)
Polyester yarns
Aramide fibers / fibres of
high tensile strength
Other textile filamentsin
combination with coating
materials like
PVC
PU / PE
SOLAFLON
PVDF / FEP / PFA

The TECHNOFIL filaments

coating is performed in an
extrusion process. This technology
allows the use of nearly all modern
thermoplastic materials as
coating, whereas the customized
plastic can be modified in all
directions (flame retardant, UV
protection, gloss, colour, polymer
softening agents etc.)
Besides the wide field of PTFE
coated glassfibers and PVC coated
PET fibres, the importance of
other coatings especially of
fluorpolymer coatings is growing.

Solaflon can be used for

technical fabrics which have to
fulfil the A2 fire prevention
standards.

TECHNOFIL filaments
TECHNOFIL filaments are yarns,
which consist of various technical
multi filaments as core media like

TECHNOFIL filaments are used

for various products like screens,
blinds, shading fabrics, filter
materials, insect screens,
conveyor belts, belt systems and
supporting fabrics
www.polymade-itt.de
Michael Blum
[mb@polymade-itt.de]

CP values for simple ridge and valley structures

The following paper is an extract
from the European Design
Guide for Tensile Surface
Structures.
Appendix A1 of the European
Design Guide for Tensile Surface
Structures has been prepared so
as to give general guidance on
the Cp factors that may be
expected for typical tensile
structure shapes. The term Cp
refers to the wind pressure
coefficient that multiplies the
site wind pressure to give the
wind loading pressure.
Archive wind-tunnel tests of
tensile structures, as well as
literature covering both rigid
and tensile structures have been
investigated for information
giving typical external Cp values
for four types of simple
membrane structure. The types
considered are:
a) Cone
b) Ridge and Valley
c) Hypar/Saddle
d) Hybrid cantilevered canopy

From this investigation diagrams

and tables giving average Cp
values have been obtained. The
Cp values given are on the same
basis as those given in the
Eurocode for conventional
structures and are intended for
use with the Eurocode.
The external Cp values can be
used in the following equation:

be determined using the

Eurocode approach based on
the distribution and size of any
openings in the building
envelope. The mean Cp values
are given below as an average
value for a zone defined as
shown in the diagrams. They
are suitable for the design of the
membrane and its supporting
structure but not for cladding
panels and individual purlins,
which will be subject to higher
local loading as described in the
Code. The behaviour of the
wind and hence the Cp values
will not vary greatly with small
changes in overall structure size.
The Cp values given here can be
assumed to be valid for
structures with bay dimensions
of 10-100m.

External Wind Pressure (load)=

Site Wind pressure
x External Mean Cp
The site wind pressure can be
found using the Eurocode
procedure for terms qref
(reference mean wind velocity
pressure) and ce(ze) (exposure
coefficient - this includes for the
terrain and gust factors
pertaining to the site). The
Eurocode includes windspeed
maps for the whole of Europe
and from which the basic site
reference mean wind velocity
pressure can be determined.
Internal/undersurface Cp values
for the ridge/valley forms should

Shape parameters:
The defining shape parameters
for this type of structure are
valley width
a)
Ratio:
Closed
valley depth
b) Open or closed sides.

External Cp Values
Sides Open
Ratio of
2.5
Valley Width
to Valley Depth
Approximate
39
slope of
membrane (deg)

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O

Figure 2 Ridge and Valley Cp

Zone Definition

26

Cp Zones

Figure 1 Typical Ridge and Valley

Type of Membrane Structure.

+0.6
-0.39
+0.23
-0.33
-0.41
-0.2
-0.11
-0.38
-0.38
-0.33
-0.33
+0.14
-0.3
+0.58
-0.29
+0.38
-0.42
-0.38
-0.38
+0.38
-0.37
+0.45
-0.46
+0.12
-0.27

Table External Cp Values

for Ridge and Valley Type Structures

+0.3
+0.25
-0.2
-0.3
-0.45
-0.35
-0.8
-0.5
-0.9
+0.35
-0.3
0.3
+0.3
-0.2
-1.2
-0.6
-0.4
+0.2
-0.2
+0.3
-0.3

Abstract: As the New Bangkok

International Airport Projects
required the implementation of
a new material concept, it was a
very special task to develop the
inner membrane, which is also
called Inner Liner. The
following article should give a
comprehensive overview and
also describe some special issues
of this project.

New Bangkok International Airport (NBIA)

The Inner Liner

1. General features of
the membrane
materials
The Werner Sobek Engineers,
the company Transsolar and the
Laboratory for Dynamics and
Acoustics in Stuttgart have
commonly created the concept
of the 3layers membranes,
which should guarantee, that
(besides the static requirements
of the construction) the airtraffic noise emission close to
taxiways and runways should be
reduced as much as possible.
Additionally it was required to
support the energetic concept of
the construction with new
composites and coating
technologies of the membranes.
Besides it was also obligatory,
that the Inner Membrane had
to be certified in accordance to
the flame retardancy classification DIN 4102 A2. The outer
membrane was chosen as the
classical and reliable Glass-PTFE
composite with high translucency, which has been proofed
long term in textile architecture.
The medial layer is fabricated as
highly transparent polycarbonate, which is mounted in a
steel-grid construction.
The third and from inside visual
Inner Liner of this membrane
construction was asked to fulfil
a composition of new requirements of flame retardancy,
acoustic and energetic
properties, light transmittance
and light reflectance and last
but not least with the general
appearance of the material.

Micro perforations

Model of the New Bangkok International Airport

Other than polyester based

fabrics, glass weaves as coating
and composite bases are able to
support the flame retardancy
requirement A2. Although
aluminium coatings on glass
weaves seem not be too complicated in general, but its a
special problem, to make sure
that the aluminisation is embedded and does not lead to an
oxidation, what would destroy
the reflective property of the aluminium layer in the far Infra-Red.

2. Special features
of the INNER LINER
There were no materials in the
market available, which could
fulfil the complete set up of the
requirements. Especially the
required low emissivity and the
sound absorption established
created a too high obstacle for
the conventional materials. The
company PD Interglas AG took
the first task to develop the basic
glass-grid a fabric which would
allow an aluminium-coating and
could perform a sound absorption and a light transmission by
the correct grid-hole-openingratio. It was suggested that
aluminium-coatings on glass
fabrics would perform physically
similar effects like aluminium
foils, the so called Low
Emissivity or heat reflection.

Because all well known coating

composites like PTFE, PVC or
any other plastic materials are
not suitable for the task, a
brand new coating polymer
became the key element of the
product development.
It was a high transparent, non
combustible and film-forming

Emissivity of the aluminised membrane

10

polymer, which had been

developed out of the group of
fluoropolymers. This filmforming ability should allow to
reopen the grid-holes of the
weave after the coating of the
membrane was completed, and
therewith to enable a high
sound absorption.
The weave design and coating
composition allowed exceeding
the fulfilment of the required
noise reduction coefficient of >
0.7 to a new textile achievement
value of 0.89.
Interglas AG asked Polymade to
demonstrate the feasibility of
the task in between 6 weeks
after November 2002, because
Polymade had developed a
coating composite which had
become known to the market
under the companys brand
SOLAFLON.
After having demonstrated the
general feasibility and pre-serial
product testing, the complex
production logistics of this
composite had to be planned
and coordinated, especially
because a width of 2.20 m had
to be aluminised in an industrial
available vapour deposition
process. Other than in
conventional slow coating
processing for industrial fabrics,
the aluminisation is processed
on a high speed level of 300 m/
minute. This is a very difficult
process to a relatively sensitive
glass-grid weave, which requires
unusual quality securing steps.
Before receiving the order from

the general contractor of NBIA

Company ITO, numerous tests
had to be performed, mainly
aiming to the long term
mechanical strength of the
composite. This qualification
program was coordinated under
the product name A-Tex 2500
Low E and was coordinated
between the manufacturer of
the glass fabric, the coating
company, B&O Hightex and the
Laboratory Dr. Blum in
Stuttgart. The material logistics
for the roofing material such as
purchase, appearance control,
documentation etc. is executed
by OGAWATEC, Tokyo to
support the general contractor
ITO, Bangkok and the
fabricating company B&O
Hightex, Riemsting, Germany.
Pure glass based fabrics without
a sufficient polymer coating
cannot be used in tailoring and
fabrication, because the
material is too sensitive.
The process of coating should
be carried out asymmetrically,
that no oxidation can occur on
the aluminium side, without
overruling the LOW E effect
by the fluoropolymer coating
with an absorption in the far
Infra-Red. A stronger coating on
the back side should allow an
easier handling of the
membrane in tailoring, welding
and assembly. The required
solar reflection of the white side
with more than 60% could be
guaranteed due to the transparent coating of SOLAFLON.
To fulfil the required optical
features of the fabrication in
104 Typical Bays, a suitable
technical connection or seam,
had to be qualified. The
demand of a weld strength,
which corresponds to the
material strength with
3250N/5cm, could be achieved
by the availability of a
transparent and compatible
welding-aid. The coating
material does not lead to losses
of the tensile strength of the
fabric, but improves the glass
filament protective embedding.
Consequently it was possible to
keep the tensile strength after
the micro-perforation of the
membrane. As aluminium
coating is an energy barrier for
the economical RF weldingmethod -what generally is
possible with SOLAFLON- the
seams had to be made with a so
called heating bar welding.

a mirror and are also sensitive

like a mirror. All kind of creases
in the weaves appear as dark or
bright marks. This caused a
special demand to the fabrication, the transportation and
the assembly, where each
approximately 1100m2 prefabricated membrane has to be
installed at the construction side
in one piece. Furthermore glassweaves dont have any elasticity,
therefore a highly specific
cutting pattern, a faultless
fabrication and frictionless
assembly has to be secured.
Each avoidable contact towards
the optically sensible material
could influence the appearance
of the membrane. Keeping that
in mind and observing the
handling instructions, the
technical requirements as

Material inspection

3. Fabrication process
of the INNER LINER
The required glass-grid-fabric
was woven at the PD Interglas
weaving factory in
Malmerspach/ France. Before
the fabric roles could be sent to
get aluminised, they had to get a
SOLAFLON-base coating.
Without this base coating it is
not possible, to get the required
reflection values of the
aluminium. The aluminium
deposition is processed in three
steps up to a thickness of
120nm. After returning the
charges of about 20000m2 to
30000m2, the further
fluoropolymer-coating and
micro-perforation is processed
in four different fabrication
steps. The appearance
inspection and role recording
took place at the weaving
factory in Malmerspach/
France. Only there, Interglas AG
had an accurate sleeve
construction which allows a fold
free winding and inspecting of
the approximately 600kg heavy
roles. Precise protocols allow
economical cutting patterns and
the optimisation of the tailoring.

mechanical strength, LOW E,

transmission and sound
absorption will remain
unchanged. When some years
ago the designers of the
membrane construction
specified the Inner Liner, there
was no material composite
available, which could fulfil the
bunch of demands. This
challenge, to introduce a sound
absorbing and open aluminised
glass fabric with LOW E and
other optical properties was the
task which had to be matched.
Without these nearly impossible
challenges and the coincidence
of visionary demands on the one
side and the new SOLAFLON
technology on the other side,
the break through of this
innovative material wouldnt
have happened.

4. Demands on the
appearance of the
INNER LINER
As glass weaving without any
defects is not possible, it was a
special challenge to reduce the
number and the allocation of
the defects under the norm of
allowed defects for solarprotective screens, falling short
from a maximum of 10m per
100 ongoing-meter and mostly
to offer 25m middle pieces of
the typical Bays for zero defect
cutting patterns.
A quality improvement program
implemented by the participants
could guarantee that the defect
number could be reduced to
approximately 30% of the
specified standard. For this
reason it was possible to
assemble more than the
specified cutting patterns.
Aluminium coated glass-weaves
are functioning as a reflector or

The Inner Liner at the New Bangkok

International Airport

www.polymade-itt.de
Michael Blum [mb@polymade-itt.de]
Walter Duerbaum [wd@polymade-itt.de]
Prof. G.K.Brueck [gkb@polymade-itt.de]

11

ACADEMIC
INSTITUTIONS

TensiNet will assemble a list of universities dealing

with Textile Architecture in terms of research and/or education.
They will be mentioned one by one in TensiNews.

FACULTY OF BUILDING TECHNOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF EINDHOVEN

Double curved pre-stressed net - Project Lightweight Structures 2004

For many years now, the Structural Design Department of the
Building Technology Faculty at
the University Eindhoven, has
been active in the field of lightweight structures. Research,
education and projects give
students the opportunity to study
this subject. Each year we will
organise a project in which the
students design, calculate,
produce and assemble a
particular lightweight structure.
These projects will increase the
understanding of the structural
behavior, the architectural
freedom, and the important
issues of its production. This year
the assignment was to design a
sculpture of a double curved, prestressed net with an equal mesh,
to hang in the atrium of the
Building Technology Faculty. Four
groups of three or four students
started to make several designs by
sketching, using nylon stockings
and the formfinding module of
the computer program GSA 8.0.
GSA is an internal developed
program by Arup. For the
formfinding it uses Dynamic

Relaxation with the element

forces based on their force
density and length. The TUEindhoven has developed a
program called Convers to
convert the cable layout of the
GSA model into an equal mesh
and its cutting pattern. The mesh
generated was 110mmx110mm
instead of the 100mmx100mm
mesh we assembled. This was
done to incorporate a 10%
stretch due to the required prestress in the net. This equal mesh
replaced the model in GSA, and
was used to calculate the
prestress forces in the edge ropes.
With the forces and the pre-stressed lengths of the edge ropes, the
unstressed length between the
connections with the net could be
calculated knowing the elasticity
modulus of the rope. For this, the
properties of the materials were
tested, including their ultimate
force. The firm Huck Torimex BV
in Katwijk aan Zee, producing
among other things nets of ropes
and steel cables, showed interest
in using their product for double
curved pre-stressed structures,

and donated all the materials for

this project. A polypropylene
mesh of 100mmx100mm 3mm,
and polypropylene edge ropes
5mm were used. After finishing
the calculations and producing
the working drawings, the
students were divided into two
groups, one producing the net
and the other producing the edge
ropes. The edge ropes and support points were given a unique
code to co-ordinate the
production. The connection
between the edge ropes and the
net was made with steel wires of
about 70mm long, pinned threw
the ropes and twisted for fixation.
To assemble the structure, we
used the railing of the atrium as
support points. The structure was
calculated with a force of
50N/100mm in the net (15% of
its ultimate load), which gave a
maximum force of 1200N in the
edge ropes (30% of its ultimate
load) and 1700N on the support
points. During assembly the
locations of the corners of the net
where measured to justify the
length of the span ropes and the

pre-stress in the structure. With

the intension of developing this
yearly project into an international
event, we would like to welcome
all students and people interested
in participating next year.

http://www.tue.nl
Arjan.Habraken@arup.com
1 Formfinding model in GSA
2 Net with equal mesh (blue) following the shape
of the formfinding model (brown)
3 Axial forces in the ropes
4 Connecting edge ropes and the net with knots
5 Assembled net in the atrium of the Building
Technology Faculty, TUE

there is a need for people to be

The European Design Guide for
better informed about the
Tensile Surface Structures is a
general behaviour and the
product of over three years work
European Design Guide for Tensile Surface Structures
advantages and disadvantages of
by the members of TensiNet Brian Forster, Marijke Mollaert
using tensile surface structures in
A Thematic Network for
ISBN: 9 789080 868717 Pages: 354, Soft Cover Published: 2004 _100.00
relation to more conventional
Upgrading the Built
buildings. For instance, the internal environment is seen as a key issue Environment in Europe through Tensile Structures, which was initiated
how do such enclosures behave and to what functions are they suited?
on 1 March 2001. This guide and the other activities of TensiNet were
There is also the question of maintenance. How do these
funded by the European Commission, under the
structures differ from normal buildings? These issues are
Competitive and Sustainable Growth (Growth) Programme
covered in the design guide. It is a generally held view that
of Framework Programme 5.
Europe needs a code for Tensile Surface structures and this
The tensile surface structure business has grown
design guide is a valuable and necessary step to a panconsiderably in the last 15 years and is predicted to grow
European Normative document. Once an EN is available
further. Such structures are becoming bigger and more
the industry becomes respectable and clients confidence
sophisticated. More clients are interested in using them but
should increase. In turn, that should lead to more business
they are still considered to be special a new technology.
for constructors and designers. Nevertheless, this European
If tensile surface structures do not figure widely in the
Design Guide for Tensile Surface Structures is not intended
design vocabulary of European architects, engineers, urban
to be a European standard. However, as a state-of-the-art
planners, building owners and national authorities, their
report it is a step in that direction.
application will continue to be constrained. Therefore,

L I T E R A T U R E

12